EU quota system ‘could kill Ukrainian steel industry’, boss says

• President Zelensky met with his closest European allies to establish a framework for potential peace negotiations. • The allies have outlined five specific conditions that must be met before peace talks can commence.

British drugmaker’s new chief executive Luke Miels announces one of its biggest dealsBusiness live – latest updatesGSK’s new boss Luke Miels has struck one of the British drugmaker’s biggest deals, announcing the $10.6bn (£7.9bn) acquisition of a US cancer specialist with two-late stage medications.The FTSE 100 company is boosting its oncology portfolio by agreeing to buy Nuvalent, a Boston-based company that develops cancer drugs, including three for lung cancer. Continue reading...

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya now in cell barely big enough to sit in, says son, after UN experts demanded his release in MarchThe son of a prominent Palestinian doctor detained by Israeli forces in Gaza in late 2024 and held for more than 500 days without formal charges has spoken of his deep concern for his father’s wellbeing after he was transferred without explanation to solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison.Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, was detained at work on 27 December 2024. Physicians for Human Rights Israel said last week it had received information indicating that the 53-year-old had been transferred from Ketziot prison to Ramon prison, part of the Ganot prison complex, where he had been put in solitary confinement. PHRI said it had not been told the reasons for the transfer. Continue reading...

Short story collection All Around the World will be available for £1 in bid to widen access to quality fictionAn initiative that aims to widen access to Booker prize-winning authors is set to launch this week, as research finds that more than a third of UK adults find it hard to read books through to the end.The Booker Prize Foundation is launching a short story collection entitled All Around the World, including works by the Booker prize winners Anne Enright, David Szalay and International Booker prize nominee Nadifa Mohamed. The collection was curated by another former winner, Roddy Doyle. Continue reading...

Sources say much delayed Dip is close to sign-off but only after some of the Labour government’s worst infightingCabinet relations have been left badly damaged by the protracted row over the defence investment plan (Dip), according to Whitehall sources who say the standoff has led to some of the worst infighting since Labour took power.Ministers are putting the final touches on the plan, which is expected to be published in the coming weeks after departments agreed to cut their capital budgets by about 1% to pay for additional military spending. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Landscape painter was also a keen musician and played a cello made for him by his friend and mentorHe was one of Britain’s greatest landscape painters, with masterpieces including The Hay Wain and View on the Stour near Dedham But John Constable was also a keen musician – and his personal cello, which he commissioned, is to be played in public for the first time in 100 years after its restoration.The instrument was made in 1802 and it is thought Constable may have played it in a local band in his home village of East Bergholt in Suffolk. Continue reading...

Fines might be needed to deter travellers from grabbing hand luggage, says official from airlines body IataBusiness live – latest updatesAir passengers are increasingly putting lives at risk by filming emergencies and retrieving bags instead of evacuating planes, industry experts have said, with some suggesting fines could be needed.Passenger aircraft are designed to be fully evacuated in 90 seconds in an emergency – but people reaching for hand luggage can significantly increase that time, blocking exits and aisles as well as damaging slides or causing injury. Continue reading...

As the Makerfield byelection and a potential leadership challenge loom, there is a sense the PM is looking to create impacts that lastAs the weeks ticked down to her departure from Downing Street in 2019, Theresa May had a plan. Not only did she want to put a net zero target into law, but she wanted the UK to be the first major economy to do so. And that meant beating the French.“It required the machinery of government to move more quickly than the French parliament,” a No 10 official from the time recalls. And it worked: the UK target came into force in June 2019, six weeks before May handed over to Boris Johnson, and five months before the French. She had her legacy. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: With Keir Starmer expected to announce Australia-style restrictions, further problems – including AI chatbots - are on the horizonGood morning. Keir Starmer’s expected speech next week about young people’s access to social media will be analysed as much for how it benefits the outcome of a certain byelection, as its safeguarding of children’s synapses.After issuing an ultimatum to tech firms yesterday to block children’s phones from sharing nude images, the government is expected to make another major announcement about social media within days. Briefings suggest it will stop short of a blanket ban on under-16s accessing social media. But it will still amount to radical regulation, with Downing Street insisting that Starmer is up for a fight with big tech.UK politics | Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed that he plans to invite King Charles on a state visit to Ukraine as early as this year, which would make him the most senior royal to travel to Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion.Middle East | Fears of a return to a full-scale regional war in the Middle East eased on Monday as Israel and Iran said they had halted attacks on each other after an appeal from Donald Trump to “immediately stop shooting”.UK news | A report has found “widespread and concerning evidence” of bias and victim-blaming in the family courts – primarily disadvantaging women.US news | Donald Trump was loudly booed when he was shown on the video screens at Madison Square Garden on Monday night at the NBA finals.Unemployment | A government-funded pilot of “hyperlocal” job support in 10 neighbourhoods across England has shown “promising early signs of effectiveness”, including for young people, and could be scalable nationwide, a new evaluation has shown. Continue reading...

Liberals and Nationals grappling with surging support for Pauline Hanson’s party, which threatens to replace them as Australia’s main conservative partyFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe new Liberal president, Tony Abbott, has backed preference deals with One Nation as he declared the party wouldn’t win the next election by being “slaves to focus groups” and just a “little less woke than Labor”.The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, all but confirmed he was open to such deals with Pauline Hanson, declaring the party was prepared to cooperate with “whoever we can to get rid of this rotten Labor government’”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ukrainian leader says he has ‘a very good relationship’ with British monarch, who has supported his countryZelenskyy hopes Reform UK councils will allow Ukraine flags to be flown againVolodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed that he plans to invite King Charles on a state visit to Ukraine as early as this year, which would make him the most senior royal to travel to Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion.The Ukrainian president said he had a close relationship with the king, whom he has met on numerous occasions, including when he gave a public show of support after Zelenskyy’s explosive visit to the White House last year. Continue reading...